


the fog did it

by smuttytaelien



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Baekhyun is a flirt, Basketball Player Park Chanyeol, Best Friends Byun Baekhyun & Oh Sehun, Bipolar Disorder, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Making Out, Mental Health Issues, Oh Sehun is Bad at Feelings, Siblings Oh Sehun & Park Chanyeol, Step-siblings, baekhyun is violent, chanyeol sucks at mario kart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-19 02:33:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29992554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smuttytaelien/pseuds/smuttytaelien
Summary: Park Chanyeol is off-limits, Sehun said. Baekhyun, well, Baekhyun was never a very good listener.How did everything go wrong so quickly? And why won't the fog go away?
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol, Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Jongin | Kai
Kudos: 41





	the fog did it

Chanyeol was off-limits, that was Sehun's only rule for Baekhyun. Baekhyun could date his ex, his sister, his uncle for all he cared, but absolutely under no circumstances could Baekhyun date Park Chanyeol. 

"It's weird, Baek," Sehun said as they played Mario Kart in his game room. Sehun was rich. Like, in-home theater, four-car garage rich, but he wasn't annoying about it like Kim Joohyun in their pre-calc class. "Every time you come over I'd have to watch you flirt with my brother. He's not even cute. He's an annoying fucker." Sehun swore as his car swerved off the rainbow track. 

Baekhyun scoffed. "Park Chanyeol and not cute do not belong in the same sentence. Have you seen the dude?" 

"Uh, yeah, that's why I called him ugly." Sehun pressed the accelerator and sped past Baekhyun towards the finish line. Princess Peach did a victory dance on the screen, and Baekhyun wanted to punch her stupid face in. 

"I'm choosing the next track," he grumbled. "And if Chanyeol is ugly, what the hell does that make you?" Sehun kicked him in the ribs and he smacked his bony foot in retaliation. "Chanyeol is a different level of hot. You're just too stupid to see it." Baekhyun chose Maple Treeway and Yoshi while Sehun scrolled through the character list. 

"I'm stupid for not calling my stepbrother hot?"

"Yes, very. You two would make an excellent edition to Por-"

Sehun slapped his hand over Baekhyun's mouth with an embarrassed scowl. "If you finish that sentence, I'm telling Kyungsoo what you called him yesterday." 

Baekhyun licked the palm of his salty hand, and Sehun pulled away with an offended yelp, frantically wiping his hand on the couch cushions. 

"You're disgusting, God," Sehun gagged, dramatic as always. 

Baekhyun had a list of comebacks swirling in his head, but the door opened before he could completely ruin Sehun's life. Chanyeol peeked his head around the doorframe, and Baekhyun melted. His hair was especially poofy from the summer heat, and his cheeks had a slight flush that made the starry freckles dotting his nose more prominent. He was smiling like he won the lottery, except he won the lottery every day, and every day Baekhyun was blessed with his smile. To put it simply, Park Chanyeol was dreamy. 

He played basketball for their high school, had okay grades, and volunteered at the rec center on the weekends. He hung out with his best friend, Kai, but never ignored the hello's thrown his way. Baekhyun counted how many people said hi to Chanyeol in the hallway every time he walked behind him to get to World History, and the record was 11. One of them being Baekhyun. 

Baekhyun was popular. Well, he was notorious. He didn't get 11 hi's in the hallway, or play for the school, or have girls falling to his feet when he walked by. But he was honest, and a bit spontaneous, and a whole lotta flirty. Baekhyun loved to flirt. He flirted with the girls on the dance team and the boys in the back of the class with a book in their hands. He hit on the baseball team and occasionally made his way to the Gaming Club. To put it simply, Baekhyun was Baekhyun. He wasn't dreamy, or sporty, or nerdy. He was as Baekhyun as Baekhyun gets, and the only person Baekhyun had yet to flirt with was Park Chanyeol. 

"Hi, Chanyeol!" Baekhyun said, adding a wave that bordered friendly and suggestive. Sehun caught on and kicked his shin where Chanyeol couldn't see, but Baekhyun refused to be deterred. Chanyeol was graduating in June, and it was Baekhyun's last chance before he went away to college and only visited on the holidays. 

"Hi, Baek. What are you guys doing? Kai just dipped with Kyungsoo." Chanyeol opened the door and revealed his lean body in all its toned glory. One benefit of staying at Sehun's house, besides the fully stocked pantry, was the hot basketball boys that came over to practice on their rooftop basketball court. Baekhyun managed to last an hour on the roof before Sehun dragged him away by his hair. 

"We were playing Mario Kart." Sehun piped in. "Want a controller?" 

"Only if I get to be Yoshi." Chanyeol flopped onto the spot between Sehun and Baekhyun and grabbed the pink controller. He smelt like Old Spice and body wash. Not that Baekhyun noticed. 

"Absolutely the fuck not," Baekhyun chided. "I'm Yoshi. You're too hot to be Yoshi. You're more like the turtle guy. You know the one with the spikes?" 

"You think I'm hot?" Chanyeol chuckled at the same time Sehun said: "You think Bowser is hot?" 

Baekhyun genuinely thought Sehun was going to throw the controller at him and walk out of the room from the horrified expression on his face. Instead, he blinked a few times, shook his head, and hit start. Maybe he was finally becoming immune to the Baekhyun effect. It was about time, seeing as they have been friends since Baekhyun accidentally pulled him down the stairs their freshmen year. That was the same year Baekhyun punched Lay Zhang for trying to grab a girl's butt and proceeded to get his ass kicked by the furious senior. 

Chanyeol, however, was far from immune to the Baekhyun effect, and Baekhyun could feel Chanyeol's eyes on his face the entire round. He wasn't sure if Chanyeol was confused or intrigued. Hopefully, a bit of both, but he didn't want to risk a glance. Sehun beat him once, and they both knew Chanyeol was shit at Mario Kart. 

"Damn," Chanyeol cursed when he finished in third place for the fifth time. "I suck at this." 

Baekhyun laughed and nudged Chanyeol's shoulder, much to Sehun's displeasure. "Maybe if you kept your eyes on the road you wouldn't have run into every banana." 

"Maybe, but why would I keep my eyes on the road with you sitting next to me?"

Baekhyun whistled and restarted the round. "Park Chanyeol, you are too smooth. No wonder half the school wants you to marry them."

"Nope, that's enough. Stop it." Sehun sat between them, one buttcheek on Baekhyun's shin and the other on Chanyeol's thigh.  
______

Chanyeol and Baekhyun didn't talk for a week after that, too busy with college applications and bullshitting classes Baekhyun had no business taking. He was smart, all the teachers said, but he had the work ethic of a cat lying in the sun, and his ADHD didn't help in the slightest. Focusing was a chore, and some days he felt so stupid he wanted to throw himself down the bleachers. Today was one of those days. 

Sehun's ancient Toyota was in the shop after a mishap with Baekhyun and a trashcan, and unfortunately (fortunately) Chanyeol was the only other person with a car. Baekhyun hated driving, and his insurance hated it even more, so after the fourth time slamming into a mailbox, he ditched driving altogether. Getting a ride with Chanyeol meant sitting through his two-hour basketball practice, and Baekhyun was happy to oblige. Sehun practically had to run to keep up with him once he got going. 

Truthfully, Baekhyun was in a shitty mood that lovely Wednesday night. He failed a pre-calc test because he spent half the time rereading the first question, and his mother was one more failed test away from upping his meds. He hated those damn meds. They made his head feel like a cloud, and not the shaped, fluffy ones. Like a low-hanging fog that makes the world confusing and his head spin. 

Seeing Kim Joohyun in the stands, talking and laughing with his annoying rich friends made the clouds swirl. Twenty minutes in and the cloud swirled into a mini-tornado, ready to rain hell. Sehun's story about some girl in his AP Psych class was the only thing keeping him on Earth until Joohyun said it. It being the one thing in the universe that made Baekhyun see red in an instant. 

"Faggots."

Baekhyun was short and he knew it, but when he blacked out, he was a powerhouse. Joohyun didn't stand a chance against him, and the fog finally cleared when Baekhyun had him pinned to the bleacher railing with his hands on Joohyun's throat. Yeah, so maybe he needed more than ADHD meds, but that was a worry for another time. 

"Baekhyun!" Sehun screamed, and a hand clawed at his shoulder. Joohyun's friends were terrified, huddled in the corner like they were staring down the barrel of a gun. Baekhyun hated himself.

He let go and Joohyun slid to the ground, rubbing at the violent red handprints on his neck. Baekhyun should have felt satisfied, but the fog settled again, and he felt emptier than before. 

Sehun led him away and steered them towards the basketball court, where Chanyeol and his teammates stood, shell-shocked. It hurt seeing a flicker of fear in Chanyeol's warm eyes, but any hurt was buried under the warmth of Chanyeol's arms on his shoulders, the weight of his chin on Baekhyun's head. 

They dropped Baekhyun at his house in silence, and that was the last time Baekhyun talked to Chanyeol until February. 

_____

"Valentine's Day is just corporations' shitty way of making people spend money," Baekhyun complained as he plopped more stuffed bears in the cart. He and Sehun got tasked with Secret Valentine; a weird tradition at their school where people secretly sent their crush a gift. It almost always turned into a competition to see which girl could end the day with the most teddy bears, but students ate it up.

"Can you hush?" Sehun rolled his eyes and counted the various colored bears. "Who knows, maybe one of these is for you." 

Baekhyun sagged against the cart and lazily eyed the bears. "I can tell you right now at least three of these are mine." 

"And the rest?" Sehun wrote a number on the scrap paper in his hands. 

"Park Chanyeol." 

And Baekhyun was right, of course. On Valentine's day, Chanyeol exited his first-period weight-lifting class with eight bears. Baekhyun was ashamed to admit one of them was from him because he knew Sehun would tease him relentlessly for it. Plus, Park Chanyeol was off-limits, but as the days went by, Baekhyun began to wonder. Sehun backed off on his threat a bit since Baekhyun's outburst, and Chanyeol was now only four months away from graduating.

What better day to force Chanyeol into an empty stairwell and kiss him silly than Valentine's Day? 

"Chanyeol." Baekhyun reached up and tapped his broad shoulder. "Can you come with me for a second?" Chanyeol stopped his conversation with Kai and Hyunjin, another dude on the team, and flashed Baekhyun a hesitant smile. 

"Sure. Where are we headed?" 

Baekhyun grinned and grabbed Chanyeol's hand, dragging him to the 600 hall stairwell and shoving him into the gap between the wall and the stairs. 

"I'm sure you've heard of my reputation, correct?" Baekhyun said, tugging on the strings on Chanyeol's Lakers hoodie. Chanyeol looked both expectant and hesitant as Baekhyun's nimble fingers worked their way across his collarbone and the side of his neck. "Well, your stupid brother put a stop to my flirting when he put a No Chanyeol ban on me."

Chanyeol seemed genuinely surprised. "Did he really?"

"Yeah, it's annoying. But now that I've got you here, and Sehun is nowhere to be found, will you help me? I do have a reputation to uphold." Baekhyun leaned against the wall and pulled Chanyeol towards him. His hands naturally rested on the wall above Baekhyun's head, and Baekhyun could practically taste the vanilla chapstick he loved to use. 

"How could I ever say no to Byun Baekhyun?" Chanyeol chuckled, placing his hand on the back of Baekhyun's neck. His skin tingled under Chanyeol's touch. 

"You can't," Baekhyun smiled, and he was kissing Park Chanyeol and his vanilla lips underneath a dusty stairwell. Chanyeol was good at basketball, but he was amazing at kissing, and Baekhyun melted into his arms. His hands slid up the back of Baekhyun's neck and buried themselves in his inky hair, and his lips broke down Baekhyun's walls until he was whimpering into Chanyeol's mouth. 

Chanyeol took a breath and dove back in, all tongue and teeth and beautiful groans that made Baekhyun want to devour him. He pressed heated kisses across the collar of Baekhyun's t-shirt and pulled his hair and made his legs tingle and his breath stop and- Park Chanyeol was so, so good. 

"Tell Sehun I'll kiss who I want," Chanyeol whispered, slinging his book bag over his shoulder and disappearing from the stairwell. Baekhyun watched him go without a word. He wasn't even sure he could form a sentence after his soul was pulled from his body. Eventually, he couldn't loiter any longer, and he followed the direction Chanyeol went to get to his pre-calc class with Sehun. 

The teacher didn't comment on his five-minute tardy, and Baekhyun quietly took his seat in the back row. It was convenient because he could use the empty desk in front of him as an ottoman and play on his phone the entire period. Sehun watched him like a hawk, silent. 

"Where were you?" He finally asked, pretending to be nonchalant, but Baekhyun could see his leg shaking. 

"Under the stairs. Oh, and your brother told me to tell you that he can kiss who he wants." Baekhyun winked at Sehun and bit his bottom lip. He could still taste the vanilla. 

Sehun did not react how he expected. For the first time in their three years of friendship, Sehun scared him when he jumped up from his seat and grabbed Baekhyun by his shirt. Baekhyun felt his head slam against the wall and heard Mr. Jung yell at Sehun to let go, but the rest was drowned out by Sehun's words.

"I asked one thing of you Baekhyun. Don't. Mess. With. Chanyeol." Each word was punctuated with a slam for emphasis, and Baekhyun felt the pain shoot down his spine. "Did you think I was fucking joking? Huh? You think you're entitled or something because half the school wants to fuck you? Listen closely, Baekhyun, because I'm about to blow your mind." 

Baekhyun couldn't listen to anything other than Sehun if he tried. 

"You're a joke to them. A prize. Chanyeol doesn't give a damn about you, he never will. The Chanyeol you've created in your mind is fake, Baekhyun, fake. I don't give a fuck who you kiss, but Chanyeol was off-limits." Sehun's eyes watered, and a few tears slipped down the apples of his cheeks. Baekhyun's mind fogged. His brain was on the defense, but he refused to hurt Sehun. He would kill Kim Joohyun, but he would never lay a finger on Sehun. But the fog rolled in, and it was dizzying and dark and all things scary, and Baekhyun swung. 

His classmates said that he almost killed Sehun, the teachers said he was a danger to himself, and Sehun said he never wanted to see Baekhyun again. Baekhyun didn't remember any of it. He didn't remember slamming Sehun's head against a desk or breaking his own wrist. It was the fucking fog. 

_____

He spent three months locked in Seoul's best mental health care facility. Three months of staring at white walls and talking in group therapy and eating stale bagels. Three months of no Sehun and no Chanyeol. 

Chanyeol was graduating in two weeks, according to the ripped calendar in the Common Room, and Baekhyun hadn't talked to him since they kissed. 

"Hi, I'm Baekhyun, and Doctor Shin says I have bipolar disorder. My mom still calls it a severe case of ADHD, but she's as batshit as I am." Nobody laughed, and Baekhyun wanted to retreat into his shell, but Dr. Shin said he had to do good in one more group therapy session before he was released. "Um, I feel fine, I guess. I haven't had any outbursts since I was put on the right meds, but I really miss my friend. I wish medication would fix what I did to him, too." Baekhyun laughed weakly and kicked at a crack on the tiled floor. "I don't remember what happened, just the aftermath, and that was bad enough. I just really miss him." 

He said nothing else, and Dr. Shin prompted the girl sitting next to him to talk. She told a story of depression, cigarette burns, and a best friend that would rather her dead. Baekhyun felt guilty. There he was, with a best friend who loved him, and he disrespected his boundaries. 

After his one-on-one session, Baekhyun was free. His mother drove him home with a bag of clothes that didn't itch and a drink from Dunkin but didn't speak. He wished she would, but she wasn't that type of mother, and it was time Baekhyun stopped expecting things of her.  
_____

Monday, June 11th, graduation day. 

Baekhyun made it two weeks without seeing Sehun or Chanyeol, but he heard the stories. Sehun was out for a week with a concussion, and Chanyeol refused to talk about it. 

Slowly, the dreamy Chanyeol Baekhyun saw chipped away, but he couldn't deny the intense desire he had to feel Chanyeol's body molding into his, one more time. So maybe he actively sought him out, but if you asked Baekhyun, he'd call it a coincidence.

"Hey, Baek." Chanyeol looked uncomfortable in his cap and gown. 

"Can I ask you something?" Baekhyun was going to ask anyway, but it helped that Chanyeol agreed. "Is there a chance for us? Or was that kiss just a kiss?" 

Chanyeol sighed. "I wish you asked me this three months ago because I would have said yes. Yes, I would take you on dates and kiss you and let you wear my number."

"But I hurt Sehun."

"But you hurt Sehun." 

Baekhyun's heart shattered. "I'm sorry," he said, and he meant every syllable. He hoped the words bled with sincerity because if Chanyeol didn't forgive him, Sehun never would. 

Chanyeol smiled knowingly and ruffled Baekhyun's hair. "I know you are. Talk to Sehun, okay? And then we'll talk."

Baekhyun nodded.  
_____

Sehun avoided him for two weeks until Baekhyun cornered him at the convenience store buying ice cream. It wouldn't last long in the heat, but the momentary chill was worth the two bucks.

"Sehun, can we please talk?" Baekhyun begged, staying a few feet away in case Sehun decided on revenge. His eyes were still as dark as raccoons from his concussion, but Baekhyun suspected it was something more. 

"Yeah," Sehun said. "Let's talk." They sat on the scalding bench outside the store and ate their ice cream quietly for a few minutes. 

"I'm sorry I kissed Chanyeol. I knew I shouldn't have." 

"I'm sorry I told you not to." Sehun tossed his paper in the trashcan and leaned his head against the glass. "Chanyeol is exactly like you saw him, Baek. He is dreamy and perfect, and our parents love him. Hell, I heard my mom say she wished he was her son once. You two would be cute, but I guess I was selfish. You were the only thing I had that Chanyeol didn't, and then all of a sudden, you weren't. You were another thing Chanyeol took from me." 

"It would take a lot more than dimples to take me away from you, Oh Sehun." 

Sehun laughed. He laughed where the group people wouldn't, and Baekhyun missed him so fucking much. 

"I know that now, and I forgive you. I forgive you for everything. I know better than to put my hands on you." 

Baekhyun rested his head on Sehun's shoulder and breathed him in. He didn't smell like Old Spice, but that was okay because he was Sehun. "I'm sorry I hit you. I promised myself I would never hurt you, but the fog-"

"I know, Baekhyun. I know. And I'm so glad you finally got the help you needed." They sat like that for a while, on the heated park bench, relearning each other. When the sun set, Sehun unlocked his car and climbed into the driver's seat. 

"One more thing," he said before he shut the door. "Please do something about my brother. I'm sick of hearing him whine about you." 

A stunning ray of sunshine parted the fog. 

_____

"So how does this whole basketball thing work, anyway?" Baekhyun asked Sehun, waving a foam blue finger in his offended face. 

"Did you just ask me how basketball works while dating a college basketball player?" 

Baekhyun nodded and stuck the finger up Sehun's nose. He batted it away with a huff and it went flying into a girl's root beer. She cursed as the drink spilled down her white jersey, and Sehun ducked behind Baekhyun. 

"First basketball game and we're already going to get kicked out. Good job, Sehun." Baekhyun rolled his eyes. 

"Hey! At least I know how the damn sport works. What were you even planning on doing?" 

"Scream when you scream." 

Sehun smirked. "So if I screamed right now, you would too? No hesitation?" 

"Try me," Baekhyun challenged, and Sehun let loose an inhumane screech that made the coaches look into the stands. Baekhyun was humiliated, but Baekhyun was also Baekhyun, and he never lost a challenge. His scream made most of the players look, and Chanyeol shook his head with a fond smile. 

When Chanyeol's team won the game, Baekhyun planted a sloppy kiss on his boyfriend's lips while Sehun engulfed them both in a hug made for Kings. Chanyeol was dripping with sweat, and Sehun's breath smelt like cheap nachos, but Baekhyun didn't want to be anybody else. He wanted Heaven to feel like this. Like Chanyeol's warmth and Sehun's forgiveness, like the sun would shine no matter how foggy. 

Baekhyun held tighter, and he smiled.


End file.
